Chapter 4: Purge the Unclean!
Imperial Guard, Catachan Jungle Fighters (The Eye Pokers) vs Chaos Cultists (Nurgle)

It has been almost a week and scouts had confirmed the Captain's suspicions; the Chaos Cultists we preparing for summoning a daemon. Knowing what he knew, Captain Lance understood the consequences. He was witnessing the machinations of the forces of Chaos within the safeguard of the Imperium. They had plan to neutralize all Imperial Forces, take over Sensory Array 738 and then the moon of Baddur Prime. The healing properties of the planetoid would serve as a recharging station for Chaos Forces all over the Quadrant. Giving his life to stop Chaos was the only price worth to pay.

The Magos Biologists at base camp had traveled with some Catachans to meet with Captain.
- Sir... I got it! The nano-necrophagite is ready. I can not fail.... fool proof I tell you!

- It better be... or the suffering of billions of loyal Imperial souls would suffer an eternity for your overconfident incompetency.

The Magos was not pleased with the cold reception, but chose to keep to the facts.

- You mentioned there was an Alpha component... he needs to be injected with the nano-necrophagite, more than once would be best. If he is allowed to leave the wounds untended, the nano-virus would feed upon his rotting flesh. It is an acidophilic form of...
He felt the burn of the Captain's look.

- Stick to the critical facts. Inject the nano-necrophagite and leaving him be. Then he dies?

- Uhhh... not exactly. He will become a carrier. All others within close proximity will get infected too. The virus has a half life of 30 minutes, so it is very hard to transmit... but considering the targets are infected by the ideals o the Lord of Decay, they would transmit the nano-necrophagite to each other. It is a horrific death, you see the nano-necrophagite consumes the dead tissue and secretes acids on the process, which in turns kills more cellular matter, which feeds the virus. The process starts slow, but once it gathers momentum is quite fast... spectacular I may ad..."

- Shut up. They deserve a painful death for turning their backs on humanity and the Holy Emperor. I have been working on the injection mode. Barrel, do we have all the logistics ready?

Lieutenant Barrent nodded. Somehow he had lost his spunk and disposition. Everyone noticed, and was making everyone nervous. It was like there was a big weight on his shoulders, and soon there would be hell to pay.

- We are ready for departure... one-way ticket to hell. You just give the word.

- Calm down, my friend. We will make it. Emperor Protects. We go and make it look real... we will pay with blood. Now, let's finish this.



It took them two days to move through the thick jungle. Arriving under the cover of night, the Eye Pokers moved in complete stealth to the location. First, Demolition Expert Specialist Dlown Tobits was sent to mine the fields on the north and west sides of the enemy encampment. Nobody was running away. This was the last chance they had to stop the menace from the Dark. Most of the Cultists were involved in some kind of dark ritual, which made them vulnerable for infiltration. Upon the signal, the Catachans moved fast for the kill.



They got sufficiently close, and Lt Barrent dropped a Cultists on the south end with a muffled silence shot from his laspistol. The Captain dropped a watchman on the east. They all moved to the compound, expecting a serious level of resistance. Instead, they were surprised. The reaction was non-existent! The Cultists were immersed on their rituals, only to snap out of it upon the realization that the ground was becoming closer at an alarming rate. George's subhuman strength pummel a man to the ground, bones crushed. Herbert, who after surviving only by the Emperor's Holy Grace, was in a frenzy. He jumped an enemy Officer and put him down quickly.



The Captain had brought all reinforcements available. Moving closer, a man with a Heavy Flamer drenched an enemy Cultist who had a Flame Thrower... which happened to be an autogun in disguise. You know... you can't NEVER trust those followers of Chaos. The Plague Marine, barely feeling the heat of the flames moved back... and took his minions out of their trance. Lieutenant Marcelas identified the Cultists with the Flamer, and with a single shot to the head dropped him like a stone. There was no stopping The Eye Pokers... or so they thought.

The Plague Marine moved closer and with a Power Boot to Sergeant Herbert's ass broke his coccyx bone, redefining pain even for the ones who thrive in lunacy. It was the move that Captain Lance was waiting. All five remaining Officers charged the Plague Marine, accompanied by two other jungle fighters. Meanwhile George held reinforcements with 3 other Infantrymen to reach their Leader. The Marine remained calmed... as if he was sure of the outcome. He directed Bolter shots and swings with his powerful sword to strategic men. First the recruits fell. Everyone attempted to kill the Traitor, but his armor was more than sufficient protection. Petty-Officer Radar fell to his knees, as he attempted to keep his guts inside him with both hands. Futile effort. Captain Lance used the opening and cut the bicep of Nurgle's Servant. His Bolter arm moved slower, but it was still steady. With a shot to the groin he dispatched Sergeant Erwin. Lieutenant Marcelas attacked, only to have his slice attack parried by the Master of Decay. Captain Lance moved closer for the kill, but with a sweep of the Bolter, the attack only managed to put a deep gash on the Chaos Marine. With his injured leg, he kicked Marcelas square in the chest, sending him flying through a concrete wall. He did not even twitched... probably dead before hitting the obstacle.



Meanwhile, reinforcements were moving in quicker than the Ogryn could dispatch them. The Catachans had the upper hand containing the reinforcements, but it was obvious that the Lord of Chaos needed no help. In arrogance, the Plague Marine removed his helmet and looked straight at Captain Lance.

- You and your miserable men will not die... at least not completely. My Master will take care of your flesh and your rotting carcasses will return to me in servitude. But you Lance... you will live to see my Lord's handy work. Let's see how the Corpse Emperor saves you from Pappa Nurgle's wrath!
Without looking, he shot his oversized Bolter, and send Lieutenant Barrent spinning in his own axis. The Captain knew it was time to leave... he had been given the option. He would let the Plague Marine toy with him.

Captain Lance threw the shockwave blight grenade. Everyone knew it was the signal. With the enemy blinded, they picked up those who could be saved and retreated to the safety of the jungle. They knew the Cultists could not pursue... for fear of damaging the dark ritual.


EPILOGUE
Sixteen hours later, Barrent showed up with with a vid-screen and a Servo-Skull to the Captain's Office at the Base. He smirked.
- Sir. It is done. Take a look. The holo-cams we placed took excelent pictures... they are still transmitting. The events starting to take place 10 hours ago.

The Captain was standing near the window, sunlight shining his scarred face. He looked at the holo-recording at 16 times normal speed. He saw the Cultists dismembering his men... then cannibalizing their remains. It was no way for a loyal servant to end their servitude. The Plague Marine watched over his minions, when suddenly a Cultist came in panic. Two others were assisting a 3rd one, who looked very sick. Without warning he vomited blood all over one of the Aspiring Champions. Everyone laughed when he gutted the offender from navel to neck.

Laughter turned to concern when the Marines howled in anger... actually it turned to be pain. He removed his Armor, only to see how his armed turned into a pustulent goo right before his eyes. Others started almost immediately twisting in agony. It became a vomitorium... in less than five minutes, they all laid dead. The nano-necrophagite had worked.

Emperor's Mercy! The day had been won... The Eye Poker's managed to foul the plans of Chaos. The price had been high, but nothing is too much when the Emperor's Will is to be satisfied.

- We did it Barrel! WE DID IT! The stain of Chaos has been eradicated from this place. Purity has been restored. PRAISE THE EMPEROR!!!
Lance smiled, almost childishly. He moved outside and screamed in pure ecstasy. Other Eye Pokers understood the news and celebrated their victory with roars of power.

- PRAISE THE EMPEROR! He that has saved us from the unclean continuous to protect us. We all will baste in His Glory! PURGE THE UNCLEAN!

With a sudden thunderous bang, Captain Lance turned silent. His eyes lost all sparkle and became void of life. As his body dropped to the ground, Barrent stood there, with a smoking Bolter still aimed to where Lance's head once celebrated.

- Servo-Skull Scribe activate. For the Record, this is Wilford Lance. Rank; Captain. Serial Designation; 978-1844162314. Purpose of this record; confirm field promotion. Commence recording.
The Captain's voiced boomed from the Servo-Skull.

- Lieutenant Barrent. Under the presence and witness of Sergeant Salt and Sergeant Pepper, I had promoted you to Lieutenant First Class and had relinquished command of Outpost XXXII. Unfortunately, my witnesses are now dead. Thus I'm invoking my honor as an Officer. If you know of this to be untrue, please speak your mind.

- Sir, yes the account in accurate, Sir. Your direct orders were for me to take over strategic operations as I saw fit, while you retained full command of The Eye Pokers. Barrent's voice sounded from the recording.

- Imperial Regulation 5468/34bj, Article Dark Forces and Warp Magic. Any soldier who, through his own will or no, becomes touched by the warp in any way and becomes impure and a danger to security, will be the beneficiary of the Emperor's Mercy. I have become impure... it is your duty to terminate my life. May the Emperor have mercy on my tainted soul.

Everyone remained silent. Only Lieutenant Barrent spoke.

- Emperor's Mercy... granted as requested.

He turned away from the corpse. So did the rest of the men. No body spoke a word.






What Victory?

End of the Campaign. Excellent game... we had lots of fun! The CSM was a bad-ass, specially with those dice rolls! Amazing battle! We found out issues with the critical hit tables as well as some of the Core Rules. Play-testing is a brutal mistress. We are working on solving the issues, to release TLRB v0.5.0. Then we will return to play-testing Chaos Cultists vs.... Kroot? Who knows... stay tuned!!!

WOW! Well done! I still can't beleve you won! How did DoZer do in the campian? Other that looseing it I mean?

dwi

LOL!!!

I lost the game! I routed (stupid dice!) Before we started we agreed that this would be the last game of the play-test campaign, as we already suspected several changes. So... no matter what happened, we were BOTH going to loose! Hehehehe

LOL INDEED!!!
Nice camo sceam btw. What is that? Uh lets see here, it looks like: Gobo green, one of the browns (beastal brown I think) there and is that Golden Yellow? Oh and there is some black there too (yes I know thats the undercoat, I don't bother with that undercoat stuff I'm to lazey). You don't paint much do ya, I mean have the stuff is still undercoated!? lol

Hey I got that same Lieutenant with the boltpistol and chainsword! Great mini in my book

What stuff did you have at the end? You must have had mesh armour by now? Oh and speaking of kit and rosters, can you guys make a roster sheet of some sort?


dwi

The minis are not finished... they are going to be dipped... just lack the time! I will give the recipe once they are done, so you can take whatever suits your style. I promise lots of pictures!

Well, it is a little different in this campaign... since we were play-testing. We wanted to try the Lesser Demon for our 'big finale' so Dozer got 100 credits to get a Demon, and I got 100 credits to spend. I bought 2 more HWS units, some grenades, some chainswords... AND the Captain had a Carapace Armor & Helmet. Save 3+!!! That is why Dozer (ANIMAL!!!) decided to ignore him... HA! In game, my 100 credits made no much difference. My dice were on fire... until the Plague Marine showed up! POWER BOOT MY ASS ALL THE WAY TO TERRA! Ha!

Ah dice, the minions of the dice gods. Don't make the dice gods angry! You won't like them when there angry!

Ya getting a powerboot up the ass can realy ruin somebodys day. Shame those 100creds did not help.

dwi

Well, they did count for lots of things... but I lacked the stat power on some of my offers (they were brand new rookies!) We were testing different issues, so I don't mind at all. The Catachans proved to be a nice Squad.

I hope so as I am going to play them. Hey can you post your warband list when you started? and the list when you won/lossed the campain?